Screening of chemical substances for human neurotoxic (and therapeutic) properties may be carried out with the aid of organotypic tissue cultures composed of foetal explants of mouse sensory and neuromuscular tissues that develop in vitro their characteristic cytoarchitectural and functional organization. Supporting this statement is a wealth of studies describing a range of specific, chemically-induced responses in organotypic neural cultures that parallel changes induced in the nervous system of humans and animals.